City plans for parkland near Battle High

Monday

Nov 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMNov 28, 2011 at 1:00 PM

Andrew Denney

Over the next several years, a new 30-acre city park could be developed alongside two new public schools in northeast Columbia.

An agreement to purchase land for the park was presented to the Columbia City Council for a first reading at its meeting last Monday, and the measure could be brought up for a final vote at its meeting next Monday.

The land for the park would be purchased from St. Charles Road Development LLC for more than $681,000.

Battle High School is under construction and is expected to open in 2013, and the proposed park would be located just northeast of the new high school. A new elementary school adjacent to the new high school is expected to open in 2015.

Columbia Parks and Recreation Director Mike Hood said the land for the park could be purchased using funds generated by the city’s parks sales tax, which was passed in 2005 and renewed this year by Columbia voters.

But, he said, other funding sources would need to be identified to develop the park. He said the city could look to grant funding to finance the development of the park, or it could attempt to raise more funds from taxpayers through a ballot issue.

Hood said the area where the new schools will be constructed was targeted for the acquisition of new parkland in the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan, which was first published in 1994 and updated in 2002.

Hood said the area is expected to have considerable growth when the schools are opened, and he said the city plans to acquire park space there before the area fills up.

Hood said the city strives to develop new parks near public schools as a way of benefiting both entities. He said the schools would be able to use park space and that the schools can serve as a “gathering place for the community.”

“We think it’s just a nice combination of public resources to have parks adjacent to public schools,” Hood said.

Jonathan Sessions, a member of the Columbia Board of Education and a member of the city’s Comprehensive Plan Task Force, said he thinks the cooperative relationship between the city’s Parks and Recreation Department is not widely known among Columbia residents. He pointed out specific examples, such as Again Street Park, which is owned by the school district but maintained by the city.

“You recognize that old mindset, that government agencies don’t cooperate, is completely wrong,” Sessions said.